With so much division and tumult across the country in recent years, Fox News hosted a more lighthearted segment Friday night. The goal was to highlight how viewers might put aside the more weighty issues of the day, at least temporarily, to find meaningful, romantic relationships. Jesse Watters welcomed in John McEntee, founder of The Right Stuff, a traditional, conservative dating app. He began the playful segment of Jesse Watters Primetime with a pointed question.
“Tell me why you believe that liberals are just so unhappy all the time,” Watters began.
“I think most liberals are insecure people and they find meaning in adopting some made-up identity instead of just being themselves,” McEntee said. “You know, they replace faith in God with faith in the state. And instead of family being their focus, they focus on things like racial and social justice. But ultimately that leads to a less fulfilling life and probably why they’re so stressed out.”
“And they can’t handle the stress,” Watters, also co-host of the popular program, The Five, added. “I mean, even the slightest bit of resistance to anything they want makes them feel unsafe. Most people consider that feeling to be just a little bit uncomfortable. But they consider feeling uncomfortable with unsafe.”
McEntee’s dating app was launched in 2022 and funded by entrepreneur and co-founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel. On their website, they say The Right Stuff was created for conservatives to connect in authentic and meaningful ways. Other dating apps have gone woke. We bring people together with shared values and similar passions.
McEntee pulled no punches when explaining to Watters why he thinks today’s liberal hive-mind tends to be more radicalized than ever, and incapable of breaking away and developing objective, independent thoughts.
“They’re trying to internalize all of the world’s problems and then project it onto everyone here. There are, you know, I don’t know what’s going on. They’ve tried to remove truth from comedy, from television, from academia. And ultimately when you have a movement that’s not based in truth it just ends in disarray. And that’s probably what we’re seeing,” McEntee said.
Jesse Watters bridged into a discussion specifically about McEntee’s dating app, on which a woman posted a photo with Watters in her profile. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Watters bragged that the woman is now engaged, partly due to his appearance in her profile.
“We’re very happy for her,” Watters said. “If you want to find a date, just post a picture with Jesse Watters and you will get a ring, ladies. It’s true though, John. People do tend to follow who they like.”
“Jesse Watters is a cheat code if you’re on The Right Stuff dating app,” McEntee joked. “It’s a dating app for conservatives. If you’re looking for a normal, traditional dating experience and you’re having no luck on the other apps, try ours. It’s all good people looking to go out, have fun, build strong families, build strong communities. And ultimately a stronger country.”
Online daters have many options in the year 2024, from more mainstream choices to those based on extreme niches or even values-based algorithms.
In a 2022 interview on the Fox Business Network with host Maria Bartiromo, McEntee said, “the biggest deal-breaker right now, when it comes to dating, is political affiliation. That’s just because of how the country is. In the past it used to be something like religion. And there’s a dating app for just about every group. Until now when there wasn’t one for conservatives.”
Many people point to the pandemic and what they call “Trump Derangement Syndrome” as factors that have increased the breakup of families and relationships of all kinds in recent years.
One of McEntee’s’ dating app’s taglines is For Those Who Know Traditional is Attractive. The line serves as a deliberate pushback against the popular left-leaning culture, including most other existing online dating options.
“The leftism is actually built into them by the tags and the stickers and the things they fund,” McEntee told Bartiromo two years ago on Mornings with Maria. “So you’re giving them your business and then they’re going – if you look at their social media accounts and any of these things they’re promoting – very far left. Not to mention conservatives cannot be themselves openly because of the hostility we face.”
Based on demographics and ratings information, Watters’ Fox News audience seems like a perfect fit. And in closing, the host distilled their dating philosophy.
“We’re just looking for normal. Shouldn’t be that hard.”
Rick Schultz is a former Sports Director for WFUV Radio at Fordham University. He has coached and mentored hundreds of Sports Broadcasting students at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, Marist College and privately. His media career experiences include working for the Hudson Valley Renegades, Army Sports at West Point, The Norwich Navigators, 1340/1390 ESPN Radio in Poughkeepsie, NY, Time Warner Cable TV, Scorephone NY, Metro Networks, NBC Sports, ABC Sports, Cumulus Media, Pamal Broadcasting and WATR. He has also authored a number of books including “A Renegade Championship Summer” and “Untold Tales From The Bush Leagues”. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @RickSchultzNY.
